This week, Swedish buffer pension fund AP1 seems to have convinced the “anti-benchmark” passive French manager TOBAM to drop fossil from its funds. In a recent announcement, sister fund AP7 revealed that a settlement had been reached with Alphabet, Google’s parent company, following a shareholder lawsuit launched in January 2019 on the grounds of sexual harassment. As a result of this agreement, Alphabet will take several measures and over the next ten years invest US$310 million to improve diversity and inclusion within the group.
The EU Commission announced the composition of the new Platform on Sustainable Finance. Among the list of prominent contributors to the sustainability debate, we could only spot two Nordic names.
Elsewhere, Eurex will introduce futures and options on the EURO STOXX 50 ESG Index as well as derivatives on the DAX 50 ESG Index to cover the German market on November 9. Meanwhile, State Street Global Advisors launched the State Street Climate Equity Funds, which targets Paris-aligned reductions in CO2 emissions.
On the other side of the Atlantic, while parent company Eaton Vance is being acquired by Morgan Stanley in a US$ 7 billion deal, sustainability-focused manager Calvert Research and Management launches the Calvert Institute for Responsible Investing, to help address global challenges, such climate change and inequality, through research, education and cooperative projects.
Also in the field of education, one of the UN Global Compact fathers and Chairman of Arabesque, Georg Kell together with United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) Director Herman Brill and Centre for Sustainability at Copenhagen Business School Professor Andreas Rasche edited a new book that collects the views of experienced academics as well as executives from both the corporate as well as the investment world reflecting on the current state of sustainable investing and its future prospects.
Last but not least, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) issued this week a new SEK1.5 billion five-year blue bond aimed at financing projects within water management and protection in the Baltic sea.
Picture @rogerholmen1975 via Twenty20
